2020. Corona. Travelling is a different game. Yet our Fernweh acted up too often. So we arranged a train trip to Germany and Austria. Specifically to Leipzig in Saxony, several spots in Bavaria and returning home with ÖBB‘s Nightjet from Innsbruck in Tyrol to Brussels in Belgium.

Joris from Joris and Joris recommended us dinner at Bayerischer Bahnhof in Leipzig. Now it is a restaurant with regional specialities, but it used to be an active railway station. 

Leipzig Bayerischer Bahnhof is Germany’s oldest preserved railway station. The station first opened in 1842 for the Leipzig–Hof railway by the Sächsisch-Baierschen Eisenbahn-Compagnie (Saxon-Bavarian Railway Company), later taken over by the Königlich Sächsische Staatseisenbahnen (Royal Saxon State Railways) and operated as the  Sächsisch-Bayerische Staatseisenbahn (Saxon-Bavarian State Railways).

The station was closed in 2001 for the construction of the Leipzig City Tunnel. It re-opened on 15 December 2013 after the completion of the tunnel. Since then it is integrated into S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland system. The new station is built directly underneath the site of the former station. 

Nowadays

The station building is still there. The tracks are gone. It’s now somewhat of a park, but could use some development. The facade or gate is still there, sporting some awesome flags coats of arms. 

Dinner was nice by the way, but not the best we had in Leipzig. We preferred Auerbachs Keller.